Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Luke 6:35
I pray that you,...know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19
Our teacher led us in a very difficult lesson to accept Jesus' challenge to become like God by loving without condition even those we consider unlovable. Love is not a feeling but an action. The words "I love you" are meaningless no matter who you say them to unless actions go with it. If you are mad at someone, they are controlling you-if you release that anger, you are freed up. We can not change anyone but ourselves. Forgiving and loving others can only be truly done through the power of the Holy Spirit. Can someone tell you are Christian by observing your actions? Jesus promises us pain and persecution if we follow Him. Our salvation is not a promise of safety. Salvation is a free gift-no one can earn it and everyone falls short. The ability to forgive is a gift from God-fake it til you make it!'
I pray that you,...know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19
Our teacher led us in a very difficult lesson to accept Jesus' challenge to become like God by loving without condition even those we consider unlovable. Love is not a feeling but an action. The words "I love you" are meaningless no matter who you say them to unless actions go with it. If you are mad at someone, they are controlling you-if you release that anger, you are freed up. We can not change anyone but ourselves. Forgiving and loving others can only be truly done through the power of the Holy Spirit. Can someone tell you are Christian by observing your actions? Jesus promises us pain and persecution if we follow Him. Our salvation is not a promise of safety. Salvation is a free gift-no one can earn it and everyone falls short. The ability to forgive is a gift from God-fake it til you make it!'
The above words are from my Sunday school lesson email from this morning. The title of the lesson was "Inspired to Love" from Luke 6:27-36. Our teacher told us what a difficult this lesson this was for him to teach as he had been through a divorce earlier in life, brought on by his wife leaving him for his best friend. Eventually over the years our teacher had forgiven this person in a face to face conversation but it came at no small cost. Our teacher also explained that this morning while he was preparing for church, Andy Stanley came on the TV teaching about, what else, but FORGIVENESS! Why does this one trip us up more than most. Why is it so hard for us to be willing to forgive. We were told that the ability to forgive is a gift of God's grace and we had to rise above the other person's control over us. During the lesson he shared four valuable points:
1. We must want to forgive. Unforgiveness is fueled on hate. We must want to forgive whoever it is we are angry at, be it our family member, friend, boss, or God.
2. We need to pray to understand the pain and brokeness of our wounders.
3. We need to pray for help to see the consequences of our unforgiveness- be it bitterness, physical or mental illness, or what.
4. We should pray daily for those who have wounded us. One participant in today's lesson told us that after she does this awhile she feels that the Lord truly changes her heart.
The Love talked about in these verses is Agape love. This is a love that takes on action. Not a feeling. You do it as a commandment. It is a sacrifice!! Another person there today thought these verses summed up everything there was to being a follower of Christ. This is what sets us apart. Verse 34... even sinners lend to sinners.
A prayer from St Francis of Assisi was added:
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness; joy.
Today's lesson was concluded with an example from Andy Stanley's broadcast. Andy apparently told about two chairs on the stage. He has two prop chairs. In the first chair he invited Jesus to come and tell all that had been done to Him by others while he was here on earth with us. All the accusations, prosecutions, betrayal, pain He had experienced. After that he invited us to come and sit in the other chair to compare. To bring whatever injustice we had to the platform for comparison.
Do you feel like you have experienced the one thing that can't be forgiven. Last line of the lesson- Substituting our "common sense" reaction to injustice for Jesus teaching is finally an act of cowardice on our part and a refusal to entrust our lives into the safekeeping of our Lord.
God, Grant us the courage to respond to hate with love and to build a bridge with you as our engineer to free us from unforgiveness.
Song for this lesson: Chris Tomlin- Amazing Grace, my chains are broken. (itunes)
No comments:
Post a Comment